Interactive Spaces
Recommendation:
To create more interactive spaces both inside and outside that enable dialogue.
Rationale:
Comfortable, informal seating spaces encourage the kind of dialogue we want to see at Western, but current spaces – both inside and outside – are limited. These spaces could foster interaction outside the classroom where members of the campus community can connect with others they might not otherwise know and can learn from each other.
Features:
· Replace uncomfortable seating with comfortable couches/benches and add more comfortable, casual seating across campus.
· Provide for outside covered areas that offer comfortable seating in inclement weather.
· Focus on offering as many comfortable, interactive spaces in the Library as possible and consider incorporating a food station.
· Consider how passageways might be reconfigured to provide for comfy, interactive spaces.
· Enlist Engineering Technology/Art Department students to help construct these interactive spaces using sustainable materials as a community-service, public good project.
· Have lawn chairs available for use on the Old Main lawn during fall/spring quarters during good weather. Consider having a kiosk near Red Square/Old Main to rent lawn chairs.
· Make a line of benches aligning the walkway from Red Square to the science buildings.
Special Considerations:
How to pay for these upgrades? One way: Use sustainable/recycled materials (such as the dining room trays being discarded for next year) and link the project to ET/Art design course work.
Possible Titles:
Benchwarmers, Comfy Conversations, Bench Babble.
Proposers: Danny Kesl, Lauren Zitsman, Tony Rhodes, Daniel Gonzalez-Espinoza, Madison Macdonald, Megan Otis, Maria Corona, Lindsy Light, Mara Schradle, Calvin Herrmann, Marya Purington
Endorsers: Alex Mahlum, Carmen Werder, Kess Smith, Julianna Grainer, Lauren Zitzman, Daniel Espinoza-Gonzalez, Madison Macdonald, Calvin Herrmann, David Carroll, Adam Boyd, Amar Saini, Rhea Wooley, Mara Schradle, Michelle Marsura, Matthew Baylor, Rebecca Donner, Cameron Schmidt, Alicia Anderegg, Amber House, Marya Purrington, Victor Zou, Stephanie Dilbeck, Kathy Saunders, Craig Dunn, Penny Hutchinson, Kimberlee Thompson, Diane Johnson, Erika Monroe, Joan Ullin, Tara Starr, Brian Johnson, Nancy J. Johnson, Rosa Jimenez, NaKayla Corr, Matt Burrows, Michael Murphy, Roberta D. Kjesrud, Kelly Gagne, Stephanie Shaw, Holly Giffin, Kate Bauer